Extensions

Patent Term Adjustments (PTA)

Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is a process that extends the term of a U.S. patent to compensate for delays caused by the USPTO during the prosecution of a utility or plant patent application. The total PTA is added to the standard 20-year lifespan of the patent, measured from its earliest claimed filing date.

To calculate PTA, the USPTO considers several types of delays, including:

• Failing to issue a first Office action within 14 months of the application filing date.
• Failing to respond to a reply or appeal within four months.
• Failing to act on an application within four months after a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) or federal court decision.
• Failing to issue a patent within four months after payment of the issue fee.
• Failing to issue a patent within 36 months from the filing date of the application.

Applicant delays can also reduce the length of any adjustment. The official PTA calculation is provided on the patent itself or through the USPTO's Patent Center.

For US Patent 10277728, the specific Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) amount is 0 days, as indicated on the face of the patent under "Patent Term Extended." This means there were no USPTO delays during prosecution that qualified for an adjustment.

Patent Term Extensions (PTE)

Patent Term Extension (PTE) under 35 U.S.C. § 156 allows for the restoration of patent term lost due to delays in receiving premarket government approval for certain products, such as human drugs, food or color additives, medical devices, animal drugs, and veterinary biological products, from a regulatory agency. This is typically associated with the Hatch-Waxman Act.

As US Patent 10277728 is for a "Method and system for communication" and does not claim any of the product types eligible for PTE (e.g., human drugs, medical devices), it is not eligible for Patent Term Extension under 35 U.S.C. § 156.

Continuation Applications

A continuation application is a second application for the same invention claimed in a prior non-provisional application and filed before the patenting or abandonment of or termination of proceedings on the first application. The claims in a continuation application must be supported by the disclosure of the prior application.

US10277728 explicitly states in its "CROSS REFERENCE" section that it "is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/421,237, filed on Jan. 31, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. application. Ser. No. 14/865,561, filed on Sep. 25, 2015, (U.S. Pat. No. 9,591,117) which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 62/083,085 filed on Nov. 21, 2014, and U.S. provisional application No. 62/118,264 filed on Feb. 19, 2015, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety."

Therefore, US10277728 is part of a chain of continuation applications:

• US Application Ser. No. 15/421,237 (filed January 31, 2017)
• US Application Ser. No. 14/865,561 (filed September 25, 2015, issued as US Pat. No. 9,591,117)

Divisional Applications

A divisional application is a later application for an independent and distinct invention carved out of a prior application. The claims in a divisional application must not be coextensive with the claims of the parent application but must be supported by the disclosure of the parent application. The provided text does not explicitly mention any divisional applications related to US10277728.

Related Family Members

Based on the "CROSS REFERENCE" section, the related family members for US10277728 include:

• US Provisional Application No. 62/083,085 (filed November 21, 2014) - This is the earliest priority date for US10277728.
• US Provisional Application No. 62/118,264 (filed February 19, 2015)
• US Application Ser. No. 14/865,561 (filed September 25, 2015), which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,591,117.
• US Application Ser. No. 15/421,237 (filed January 31, 2017).
• US10277728B1 (the present patent).

Additional priority claims are mentioned in the patent information on Google Patents:

• US16/245,602 (priority to January 11, 2019), leading to US10516775B1.
• US17/150,786 (priority to January 15, 2021), leading to US11316964B1.
• US17/699,581 (priority to March 21, 2022), leading to US11611649B2.
• US19/303,950 (priority to August 19, 2025), leading to US20250385966A1.

These indicate a robust patent family with several continuations, extending the reach of the underlying invention.

Projected Expiration Date

The standard term for a U.S. utility patent is 20 years from its earliest claimed non-provisional filing date.

• The earliest priority date for US10277728 is November 21, 2014, from U.S. provisional application No. 62/083,085.
• The earliest non-provisional filing date (for which benefit is claimed) is September 25, 2015, from U.S. application Ser. No. 14/865,561.
• The patent was issued from application US16/112,587, which has a filing date of August 24, 2018.

Since the patent claims benefit from earlier applications, its term is calculated from the filing date of the earliest non-provisional application for which a benefit is claimed. In this case, that is September 25, 2015.

The patent was granted with 0 days of Patent Term Adjustment. [cite: "Patent Term Extended: 0 days"] There is no Patent Term Extension.

Therefore, the projected expiration date is 20 years from the earliest effective filing date:
September 25, 2015 + 20 years = September 25, 2035.

This matches the "Anticipated expiration" date provided in the Google Patents summary for US10277728.